Daily digest May 29 2015

UN targets 'will force the NHS to discriminate against over-70s'

The NHS could be forced to deprive the over-70s of medical resources as a result of United Nations (UN) targets designed to cut premature deaths, it has been claimed.

Older people would potentially be discriminated against under goals to reduce deaths among the young, according to a letter published by the Lancet medical journal from a coalition of senior medics.

As reported in the Daily Mail, the letter claims the UN proposals – aimed at reducing the number of deaths from cancer, diabetes, strokes and dementia by a third by 2030 – would inevitably lead to the prioritisation of care for younger patients and would make elderly patients ‘second-class citizens’.

Read more on the Mail Online website

Smoking ban hailed for cut in children’s illness

Banning smoking in public places in England helped cut the number of children being admitted to hospital with respiratory infections by about 11,000 a year, researchers have said. 

The introduction of smoke-free legislation in 2007 was followed by an immediate 3.5% drop in admissions among under-15s and the biggest fall, of nearly 14%, was among those suffering chest infections, while there were smaller effects among admissions for nose, throat and sinus infections.

The researchers from Edinburgh, London, the Netherlands and the US, whose findings are published in the European Respiratory Journal, estimated that the fall in admissions was saving the health service about £17 million a year.

Read more on the Guardian website

Killer bug in your chicken: three in every four sold is 'infected'

A health alert was issued yesterday over shop-bought chickens after thousands tested positive for a potentially fatal food bug, the Daily Express has reported. 

A Food Standards Agency investigation found that nearly 75% of fresh poultry at popular stores contained campylobacter, a bug which strikes almost 280,000 people a year and leads to more than 100 deaths.

Almost a fifth of the birds tested contained the highest levels of the bacteria and consumer campaigners said the scandal ‘beggars belief’. 

Read more on the Express website

Fruit snacks aimed at children 'contain more sugar than sweets'

Five out of six processed fruit snacks contain more sugar than a packet of sweets, according to a pressure group.

Parents are buying fruit leathers, flakes, rolls and chews that are more sugary than a packet of Haribo for their children in the mistaken belief that they are healthy because of ‘grossly misleading’ claims on their packaging, Action on Sugar has warned. 

As reported in the Times, many of the snacks, including Tesco’s Yoghurt Coated Strawberry Fruit Bites and Whitworths Sunny Coated Custard Raisins are more than two thirds sugar, analysis carried out by the campaign has found.

(£) Read more on the Times website